Janey Davies: ahhhh lovely china. We have left the rubble of Russia behind and we are here, in the land of amazing food. Our time in Irkutsk went by ok - we went to Baikal and it was just amazing - can't even describe what it felt like to be there and see the view... Water as far as the eye can see and then snowcapped mountains just visible on the horison, and that is just looking across the narrowest width of the lake. We walked about on the ice, and it was like...

Miesje: well, since yekateringburg we have traversed many a snow-covered mile, visited the creme de la creme of Siberian cities and watched flamenco dancers dressed as nuns. Our next stop in the adventure was Novosibirsk, which we quickly bypassed in favour of Tomsk - a smaller town with some interesting wooden buildings and churches and not an awful lot else. back to novosibirsk for one night and then onto Krasnoyarsk. Getting off the train at 8 in the morning, ...

Janey: Helly from yeketarinsburg. We have survived the first leg of the trans-siberian railway. We set off from Moscow and all got alittle flustered when we realised we were are on top bunks in the cluttered third-class carriage and that we would have no 'space' to sit for the journey as our 'space' was in the top bunks. however, after a few hours to settle in, we did so and spent the next 26 hours reading/eating instant noodles/talking to russians in broken russ...

'Vicious Face Patrol & Technical Break Outs' Miesje: Russian women. Let me elabourate. Even as I write this I am looking over my shoulder, for fear that I will be brusquely shoo'd out of the way, given the evil death stare or, as Lanty was so unceremoniously told earlier "I won't even bother to tell you how to do the washing up, f*****g hell!" (whilst clearly doing the washing up). I know that we as Brits have a reputation for being somewhat er... ...

Janey: Hello from Moscow. So we have quite a lot to catch up on... We set forth for Russia on the 28/2 and the train journey was relatively harmless and uneventful. The trek across St Petersburg put us all on edge and a little because suddenly we were confronted by very fast motorways all around us and no particular crossing points to speak of... we risked our lives and made it to the hostel, cuba hostel... which was very very cramped and our room stank of cheesy...